


conversations by candlelight

by xslytherclawx



Series: Chanukah 5779 [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Canon Jewish Character, F/M, Fluff, Hanukkah, Jewish Holidays, Minor Queenie Goldstein/Jacob Kowalski, Pre-Relationship, slightly canon divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-02 01:51:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16777249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: Newt really needs to go search for his creatures, but he's intruded on the Goldstein sisters during a holiday, and he knows leaving early will simply draw suspicion.





	conversations by candlelight

**Author's Note:**

> Newt literally visited during Chanukah and there was no mention of it, so I've corrected that. It's only canon divergent in the aspect that the Goldstein sisters are Jewish in more than name.  
> I know there are probably half a dozen fics with this exact plot, but it's one we always need more of.

After the strudel was eaten, Queenie plucked a silver candelabra off of one of the shelves. “It’s really lucky that you boys stopped by tonight. It’s Chanukah! Well, technically it’s the seventh night of Chanukah.”

“Oh,” Jacob said. “I guess it is, isn’t it?”

“You haven’t celebrated Chanukah in a while, huh, honey?” Queenie asked him. “And you,” she said, turning to Newt, “you don’t have any idea what we’re talking about, do you?”

“Please don’t read my mind,” Newt said.

“I didn’t need to, honey,” Queenie said, “the confusion was written all over your face. You’re a goy, aren’t you?”

Newt looked to Jacob and then to Tina for assistance. “I’m sorry, I’m a what?”

“It means non-Jew,” Tina supplied.

“Oh,” Newt said. “Then – I suppose I am.”

“Chanukah’s not necessarily the most _religiously important_ holiday,” Queenie said, “But Teenie and I like it because it gives us an excuse to spend time together. And it reminds us of our parents. Besides, it’s just nice to light the candles when it gets dark so early, you know?”

Tina summoned two candles out of a drawer and set them into the candelabra.

“Newt, sweetie, do you want me or Teenie to explain Chanukah for you?” Queenie asked, and Newt didn’t miss Tina’s pointed look at her sister at that.

Newt, for his part, really thought he ought to go search for his missing creatures before something happened to them, so he said, “Oh, no, that’s quite all right. Many cultures have traditions of celebrating light as the days grow shorter.”

Queenie huffed. “It’s not just a _tradition,”_ she said. “It’s our history, and it’s unique to us. It celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple. And – well, a lot of No-Majs, they don’t know this, of course, but a lot of it’s really magic.”

“The texts themselves don’t differ,” Tina said.

“Well, no,” Queenie agreed. “But No-Majs will do everything they can to deny the existence of magic, so they don’t see it. Not you, sweetie,” she said to Jacob. “You’re special.”

Newt certainly didn’t miss Tina’s eyeroll at that, but it seemed that Jacob had.

“I’m nothing special,” Jacob said.

“Oh, but you are!”

Newt had the feeling this could go on all night, and, if he was reading Tina’s body language properly, she felt much the same. The difference between the two of them, Newt thought, was that he was simply anxious to go find his creatures before some human harmed them, and, well, it was rather obvious that Tina had had a rotten day.

“I’m lighting the candles. The two of you can flirt afterward,” Tina said. She ignored Queenie’s protest, and whispered a spell Newt had never heard before – and as Latin standard wasn’t used frequently outside of Western Europe, he’d heard a lot of different spells in a lot of different languages.

He was about to ask what language had been used to create the spell, but then Tina and Queenie both started singing something that Newt didn’t understand, but sounded similar enough to Arabic – from the few words he’d picked up. He didn’t think it was Arabic, though, and after a few seconds, Jacob joined in.

When they were done, they lit the second candle using the first (and _not_ repeating the spell), and while Newt wanted to go to find his creatures quickly, he couldn’t help but ask, “What language was that? It sounded – Semitic, but it’s not Arabic, and that’s the only Semitic language I’ve any working knowledge of – and even then, perhaps _working knowledge_ is a stretch.”

All three of them looked at him rather blankly, and it was Tina who recovered first. “It’s Hebrew,” she said.

“Oh,” Newt said.

“It’s the Jewish language,” Queenie said. “All of our prayers are either in Hebrew or Aramaic. And the spell – that was Aramaic. Now – who wants latkes?”

“Actually,” Newt said, “I think I should turn in a bit early – I’ve got to be out early to search for my creatures, you see.”

“Well,” Queenie said, “Tina and I have got to stay up at least until the candles have burnt out.”

“At least stay for _one_ latke,” Jacob said.

Newt looked to Tina, who’d softened a bit. “It _is_ tradition,” Tina said, “but if you’re tired, I can show you where you can sleep for the night.”

Her gaze flitted to Queenie and Jacob, who were making obvious eyes at each other over the table – humans were sometimes every bit as predictable as creatures. He thought about the horrid day she’d had – and then he thought about the fact that this was a holiday for her.

“I – suppose I can stay for one, er, latke? Did I say that right?”

If Tina’s smile seemed to actually reach her eyes at that, well, it was just a trick of the light, Newt was sure. There was no way that someone so beautiful could ever – no. Best not to even go there. He was only in their flat (imposing, he knew) because of the mix up with his case. She’d likely turn him in when all was said and done. She’d tried to already.

Queenie put some of the latkes (Newt still wasn’t quite sure what they were) on his plate, never taking her eyes off of Jacob’s. Newt felt a pang of pity for them. Were MACUSA’s laws not so terribly backward, there would be no need for Jacob to be obliviated (he seemed, after all, to not be very upset by their current situation), and he and Queenie might have a chance.

As if Tina could read his thoughts ( _was_ she a Legilimens, too? It was possible, after all), she shot him a look and shook her head. What was it she’d said to Queenie? There was no use getting all attached.

What a horrible way to have to think.

“So tell me about your book, Mr. Scamander,” Tina said.

“W-well,” Newt said, not expecting that turn in conversation. He cut up one of the latkes as Jacob seemed to be doing. “As I’ve said, it’s meant to be a guide to aid Witches and Wizards in understanding creatures. It’s my belief that – if we all understood a bit more, and took the time to think about the creatures in our lives, we’d be able to live much more harmoniously. I can’t abide by this ridiculous and outdated belief that some creatures are simply _bad_ at their core. It’s really just that – some people, bigoted people, refuse to take the time to understand them.

“Naturally, if I’m thoughtless enough to reach my hand into an occamy’s nest, one of them may very well take a finger off – or a hand – but that doesn’t make them bad, or violent. They’re simply defending themselves from potential poachers who might try to harm them for their shells. Or – my mother breeds Hippogriffs, to provide another example, and if I were to simply try to ride one without approaching them respectfully, I’d well expect them to gouge me with their talons, but the fault, again, would be mine for assuming they function in the same way that humans do.

“Far too many people don’t – _think_ about that, though. They refuse to. And that is the root of far too many problems. So I hope that – my book can aid in remedying that particular problem.” He ate his piece of latke, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a potato pancake, and a very well-seasoned one, at that.

“It sounds like you’ve had to defend yourself on that before,” Tina said.

“I have, yes,” Newt agreed.

“I think I’d like to read this book of yours, Mr. Scamander. When you’re finished, of course.”

Newt hadn’t expected that, and he sat frozen, rather stupidly, with his fork in the air, for a few seconds before recovering. “I’d be happy to send you a copy, Miss Goldstein,” Newt said.

“Your mother really breeds Hippogriffs?” Tina asked.

“Yes,” Newt said.

“So you’re really – following the family tradition.”

“My mother doesn’t see it that way,” Newt said. “Breeding Hippogriffs is all well and good, but apparently travelling the world to study as many creatures as possible to try to foster better understanding of them among wizardkind is – less than respectable.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tina said after a second.

“Yes, well, I’ve long stopped trying to obtain my mother’s approval. It’s far more rewarding to engage in work I’m passionate about than to try to twist myself into being something that I’m not so that she’s got _two_ respectable sons rather than just the one.”

His words sounded a bit more venomous than he’d meant them to, and if seeing the Goldstein sisters celebrating them together had reminded him that he hadn’t celebrated Christmas with his family since – before the War – well, there was nothing to be done for that.

“I think your work is – admirable,” Tina said. “If your family can’t see that, then that’s on them. Not on you.”

He was leaving in a week, and he knew there was no use getting attached, but he couldn’t deny that he felt a rush of warmth at Tina’s words.

“Thank you, Miss Goldstein.”

**Author's Note:**

> (for those of you who read my Ravenclaw AU series, this is technically compliant within that series, but it seems a bit odd to just throw it in the series itself, since Newt and Tina aren't major characters in it.)
> 
> * * *
> 
> [tumblr](http://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com)


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